Site Mobile Navigation

Hefner Wants to Take Playboy Private

Playboy Enterprises said Monday that its iconic founder had offered to buy the remaining shares of his media empire in a deal that would take the company private.

The company said its board had received a proposal from the founder, Hugh M. Hefner, to pay $5.50 for the outstanding shares. The price is at almost a 40 percent premium over Playboy’s closing price on Friday of $3.94.

Mr. Hefner owns 69.5 percent of Playboy’s Class A stock and 27.7 percent of its Class B shares, the company said. Mr. Hefner founded Playboy magazine in 1953 and turned the publication and its scantily clad models into a cultural mainstay, but the company has struggled in recent years.

Playboy’s board cautioned shareholders that no decisions have been made regarding the proposal. If the proposal moves forward, the board said that it would form a committee of independent directors to consider its merits.